Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS200/TZ200 Review

The Panasonic ZS200 (known as the TZ200 outside of North America) is a compact travel zoom camera with a 24-360mm equiv. lens and a 20MP, 1" sensor that's larger than what you'd find on a typical long-zoom camera. In addition to capturing 20MP stills, it can also record decent quality UHD 4K video. In general we like what the ZS200 has to offer in terms of spec and performance, though lenses in this class of cameras are often on the soft side. While the ZS200 has the longest zoom of any nearly pocketable enthusiast compact, most people will be better served by the less expensive ZS100, if they don't mind less zoom range.

To put it simply the ZS200 seems to take the excellent pedigree of the ZS100 (one of our picks for best travel camera), makes some slight improvements and adds a longer, slightly slower lens. Combined, these two cameras fill a gap in the 1" -type compact camera market, providing significant telephoto reach beyond that of other pocket friendly models, such as the Sony RX100 series, without being bulky like Panasonic's FZ1000 and FZ2500.

The ZS200 is now available for $799, while the TZ200 (its non-US name) is £729 and €799 in the UK and Europe, respectively. The color choices are black and an attractive gunmetal/silver.

What's new and how it compares

Here are the differences between the ZS200 and its predecessor - the ZS100 - plus how it compares to existing models from other companies.

Comments

I bought this to tour Europe....what a disappointment! My old TZ30 was better. I concur with the other negative sentiments posted here. I used to enjoy the Panasonic brand but my personal experience with the TZ220 (I'm in OZ so it is not known as the ZS200 here.) has put me right off. It was erratic with focusing and sometimes exposure was all over the place with mediocre IQ. The touch screen is useless as it way too sensitive for a travel camera. Build quality is also not up to scratch. It is absolute junk and thankfully, I managed to get rid of it on my return a few weeks ago.

Just purchased a Zs200 and I am a newbie. Does anyone have a general 1st time setup for this camera? Or do I just start with the auto and go from there? I plan on trying to VLOG with it on trips and just around my surroundings. I live in Louisiana so I will probably be shooting some natural habitat's of local wildlife.

I would prefer a 2/3" sensor + optical zoom up to 500mm eq.. I want a camera that has more details at 720mm eq. than the Zs60. The Zs200 only has 5 megapixels after 2x digital zoom. I doubt that it will be much better than the Zs60 at 720mm, but I couldn't test it yet. 720mm eq. is the field of view that I use the most.Diffraction isn't the main issue of the Zs60, the Zs60 lens has autofocus issues as well as sharpness issues that are not caused by diffraction.

Got it. Sent it back. Was using the older/smaller sensor/fewer featured/ ZS50. This one, a bit fatter, not much but noticeable in my usual "pocket"... The touchscreen was finicky, not easy to lock down, as the screen does not tilt, no overhead shots so not much use for it, the ability to grab-focus on long zoom, not good. To quote karate kid dialogue, zoomin-zoomout. The lens is slow and soft. Miss the ring around the buttons. The changes were insufficient to warrant an upgrade, Thank god for easy return label printing.

Good image quality? If that sunset shot with the sun behind that bridge is any indication, I have to say the image quality is terrible. That was shot at 1/1000 sec. (that's fast) and ISO 200. That's low. ISO 200 is a pretty normal, every-day ISO setting. If the problem is the sensor that's making that photo so blurry, then they put a dud sensor in the camera. If the problem is the lens, then they put a cheap, dud of a lens in it and labeled it Leica . . . so Leica means nothing. If so, then they are just ruining the Leica name. Leica should sue them. If it's something else, then they need to fix whatever that is and fast. For $800 you wouldn't think the problem would be the sensor.

After looking some more, I see some promising results, such as the photo of the tree, which has sharp detail in the top right corner as well as the middle. I don't know why that sunset photo doesn't have sharp details, when shot at a wideer mid-range focal length (not 8.8mm or 10mm or even 12 mm, but 19.3mm) and fast shutter speed at ISO 200, but they should probably not have posted that one if it's a flier. (meaning one of the worst image quality examples) I don't see why someone would post such a bad photo, except to make a camera look bad, when we know it's more likely user error (i.e. the photographer moved the camera when shooting). Then again, they posted two versions of that photo, which was shot at f4.3. They were able to pull a significant amount of color and detail out of the shadows, so in that respect that shot is quite a good example, which shows that what is coming out of the sensor is pretty clean . . . or is it noise reduction that's the problem?

The sunset/bridge photo has severe sharpness issues indeed. They are caused by the lens. My Zs60 has exactly the same sharpness issues. It's completely unpredictable: You can focus three times at the center with the same settings (same focal length, same aperture, etc), sometimes the edges (landscape) will be very sharp, sometimes not, although the center is in focus. Though even the sharpness in the center can vary much.

Yes, its photos are right down there with the Panasonic LX10 and the Canon G1x Mk III.

So, if you want a small yet tiny compact, you get a Sony RX 100- vs3-5

If you want the BEST 4/3s, you dont wast time with Olympus Pen or OMD junk, you run directly to the Panasonic GX85, as this is the very best 4/3 ILC camera ever created, and it actually works BETTER with Olympus glass, then Olympus.

Then, if you need your lens installed you run directly to the Sony RX10-3, as this is the king of the 1" sensors, and takes photos that are so good, no matter if they are macro or 600 mm TELE away, that you'll wonder why you dont own 2.You say you hate Ken Rockwell reviews?... Well go and read his review of the Sony RX10....... Its not hype.. Its reality.

Thanks for the in depth review!Few notes though:1. Not enough attention is given to the ridiculously outdated app (Android in my case). The app looks like an app from 2013.The app doesn't allow you to transfer all of your photos to the phone..there is a limit (WHY?) for the amount of photos you can transfer at one time which means I need to keep checking my phone.I can't transfer RAW photos for to my phone. Believe it or not, I prefer to edit RAW files on my phone than on my PC, also much easier to share the result later.

2. No attention to HDR. I mean, HDR is super important IMO. Sure, i.dynamic setting is nice, but HDR is important. I own the FZ1000 and the HDR is pretty bad on it, it takes 3 photos (which is fine) but lacks the ability to merge them correct unless I'm super stable AND the objects are all still. Panasonic should just learn from HDR+ algorithm how to do it right (Pixel 2).

3. Lack of GPS sucks for a "travel" camera. As I stated before, this is not to check where I the photo was taken, but to be able to search a photo by the location from my 200+ GBs of photos. It works great! The whole using the phone's GPS to record location and then sync... well.. it's bs.. sorry. If my old compact Canon D20 from 2013 managed to do it right, there is absolutely no reason an 800 Euros camera 5 years newer won't be able to do the same. The rest are just excuses.

As for the Leica name, who knows? I have owned several Panasonic cameras (GH2, GH3, GX7, GX8, GX85, FZ150, FZ300, TZ50, etc.) and keep buying and using them because they have very good feature sets, good performance, very good video, and IQ at least as good as their competition. I used to use Pentax (K-r, K-5) and loved the IQ but went MFT for the lighter weight and better video capabilities (use of EVF while shooting video).PS - seems a bit extreme to have a Panny-phobia due to some camera from twelve years ago. It got pretty good reviews from Tech Radar, etc. ("This compact oozes quality and real attention has been paid to getting images just right" "many advanced features" "excellent images")

Whenever something looks like it is too good to be true, then it probably isn't true.

This is a very ambitious camera. Very small and light.... almost pocketable... with a huge zoom range and large sensor, and still fairly reasonably priced. Who wouldn't want something like that?

Unfortunately, the image quality was compromised to achieve the compact size. The lens is slow and soft. The LCD doesn't tilt. The video is severely cropped in 4K mode. And the EVF is mediocre. There is virtually no improvement over the much cheaper ZS60 with it's tiny sensor.

Save your money and buy something else. The LX10 or LX100 is a much better value and will deliver better results, even if you won't get the big zoom range from them. If you need zoom range then a ZS60 starts to make more sense too.

I have the ZS100 but I have yet to enjoy a small zoom camera as much as my old Olympus Stylus 1.

Sure, a small 1/1.7 sensor but with very nice processing, RAW capability, a high-quality 28-300mm f/2.8 zoom, built-in EVF, 1080p video, better battery life than this ZS200 and, when powered down, could easily fit in a jacket pocket.

I gave mine to my niece as I purchased other cameras for myself. It's still going strong today and I miss it often.

I am disappointed with the Leica brand lenses on the Panasonic. My FZ1000 is also soft.My son's RX100 with the Zeiss brand lens is much sharper.The real Leica lens on my M3 is wonderful.I think Leica is in danger of losing their cachet of quality by allowing the production of these substandard lenses. If Zeiss can manage to keep a semblance of Zeiss quality on lenses that carry their name, why can't Leica?

I think we have to compare apple to apple such as SONY RX100.M3 vs Pana LX10 as:- Both have very much the same zoom range, - LX10 is little more than half stop faster while zoom out, and- Both have very much the same size:

For those who might be interested, the May 26 issue of the Brit Magazine Amateur Photographer has a fairly detailed review of the ZS200. Book Stores are getting harder to find, but it is available online. It seemed to be somewhat more positive than the review found here. I have had my ZS200 for a few days now, and I am feeling better about my decision to acquire it. Maybe once I figure out how to use Bluetooth, i may be even more positive. There is really no good reason to,own both, as I do.

I have had bad experiences with previous panasonic long zoom cameras. The lens is not sealed so it acts like a bellows when you zoom in and out which in turn sucks particles into the lens body. These particles accumulate on the lenses themselves so i ended up with spots on every shot. No way to dislodge the particles without dismantling the whole lens system. It would be interesting to know if they have some form of weather sealing on this model. Othwrwise i suspect the same thing will happen with this camera

I like mine. Prefer it rather than my ZS100. When using my ZS100, which mostly sits in a drawer, it seems any amount of zoom produces soft pictures. Example: it's quail birth season here in Tucson. Love to photograph the little farts running around like PacMan figures. I saw a few chicklets on a berm 15 yards away, zoomed about 125mm and the baby quail portion of the pictures were so soft as to be nearly indistinguishable from the small desert shrubbery

The review site has lost me now. I didn't need to look at a new camera review, but now they'll never do dynamic range benchmarks, or hardly any objective measurable benchmarks anymore as if it will put somebody off some camera, there's no point. It's just filling my head with internet noise.

The conclusion in the review is NOT consistent with the earlier detailed parts of the review. And its a long way off. Whats up DPR? The personal notes of other DPR associates are only adding to the confusion. And the naming of categories is rediculous. Superzoom, small superzoom, compact. Sometimes "more" is not the equivalent of "better".

Panasonic just did itself a major disservice for the second time. The FZ2000 was the first.

As an engineer for most of my life, maybe the solution for shirtpocket travel cameras lies with the shirtpocket, not the camera. My always with me camera is the iPhone 8+, and it is too big for a lot of my shirtpocket. Maybe a vest is the way to go. The last time I used an airplane, I went for a Viking river cruise of 6 days on the Danube. I had a Nikon D300 at the time, but I brought Canon 850 which I carried on a belt pouch, zoo 35-210mm, powered by 4 Lithium AA batteries, which seem to last forever. I was pleased with the photos I brought home. I have no financial connection with Viking Cruise lines, and the room, meals, and staff were superb. I am approaching age 82, and I hope for a final trip to my hometown of Niagara Falls. The city is a rust belt slum but the Falls are still magnificent. Thinking of using the train from Vancouver to Toronto, since Toronto is only about 60 miles from NF. THE Canadian side is nicer than the New York side.

I hope that Panasonic makes smaller travel zoom cameras. They shouldn't be thicker than the Zs60 (38mm) and shouldn't weight more than the Zs60 (282g) in my opinion. Nonetheless I hope they can improve the lens as well as the image processing; good out-of-camera jpgs with good color reproduction/auto white balance and good dynamic range (see Google's HDR+) are very important for me.The Zs200 is expensive and has probably nearly no advantages at 720mm (digital zoom) in comparison with a Zs70 or Zs60. 720mm is very important, I need it all the time for birds.

Maybe Panasonic should consider to make a dual camera with folded optics. A zoom lens + 720mm eq. prime lens. Furthermore I don't think that the zoom lens really needs to have 24mm. Most people have a smartphone and apart from raw the Panasonic is worse than many smartphones between 24-30mm.

I received a ZS200 yesterday. I have had the ZS100 for about 2 years. My initial impression is that the changes are insufficient to warrant an upgrade, but it is still early days. The new grip is a significant imorovement but a grip I added to the ZS100 2 years ago for $13 from Amazonis as good or better. It is no longer offered as far as I can see. The higher resolution of the LCD and EXF on the ZS200 are insignificant. I use the EVF on these cameras only as a last resort. The EVF on my Fuji X30 is far superior. The image quality of the two seems about the same, but I am still testing this. The increase in focal length is trivial for my purposes. I ordered the ZS200 before the DPR review was available, but I would likely have done so after reading the review. I hope the addition of Bluetooth turns out to be significant. I will let you know. I still claim that the purchase of a Fuji HS50EXR is the best way you can spend about $400, but it is not a pocket camera.

this being a 1" long zoom i would have expected a comparison with the rx10iv in this article. comparing to the rx100 series makes no sense to me. i get the form factor of the rx10iv is totally different, but it's about the only other 1inch long zoom out there. it would be interesting to see a summary of the main differences between the cameras, compared to the price difference.

I would have thought that the Canon G3X was a closer competitor due to being closer in size but still with a long zoom. Not sure if this has been discontinued now though, so maybe that's why it wasn't included?

Was I the only one who had trouble finding one of the .... if not THE ... most important spec .... price?(about $800 at B&H and Amazon ... maybe I didn't look hard enough, but I never did come across the MSRP in the review)

A real letdown for me. Given the strong starting point of the TZ100, Panasonic had the opportunity to do some great things here. Instead of up, they've gone sideways, with no noticeable improvement over the TZ100. I don't recall many people asking for a longer, slower lens or so-so AF and variable IQ between samples. A tilt screen should have been top of the list for new features, allowing much greater flexibility in framing shots. The camera is pretty small, so a TS would not have added that much of a size penalty.I'm not much of a videographer, but it seems that area has been neglected as well.All-in all, a disappointment as far as I can see.

I thinknyou dont know what consumers are asking or not asking for. So maybe dont try to present your opinion as anything else that it is ( individual opinion that lists all negatives from review, contributing nothing in particular).

I share your sentiments daguerre999. And Panasonic's QC seems to be in free fall. We are now in a situation where WE customers are supposed to hope and pray for a "good copy", even for flagship cams like the ZS200 or LX100. Sigh.

ArbuxOf course its an opinion idiot. It's also my opinion that you are either not very well educated or that English isn't your first language as your post is very poorly written.So maybe not nonsense post until better learn language.Troll.

I don't really review a lot of compact cameras. My two recent compact camera reviews are the Nikon 35Ti film camera and the Leica Q.Panasonic TZ200 is a pocket-sized travel zoom camera, with a 15x zoom and a 1-inch, 20-megapixel sensor for class-leading image quality.

Panasonic has done good things. I hope they keep improving the cameras aggresively. especially : 1. Use new sensor which work better on low light 2. Use AI to improve the image quality. Look at Huawei P2 phone, it can create good image just from a phone

Prospective buyers would do well to inquire into the procedures for in warranty repair. I cannot speak for this camera, but I will state that in the case of my Panasonic 1" camera, warranty service (in the US) required shipping the unit to a facility in Texas (at my expense) and a 3 week delay between the time I shipped my camera (via Priority mail) until the time that I received a disposition (which, in my case, was that they would not cover the repair - the cost to repair was about 50% the retail cost of the camera). Also, their tech support line is open M-F, 9-5. It's best if you require support during normal business hours. Again, I can't speak to this camera, but mine was less resistant to dust than any I've had before. Not good if you plan to carry it in your pocket. Look before you leap.

Reading all the fuzz about soft lenses and sample variation, it seems like my copy of the TZ202 is better than what they got at DPreview. I also own a very good RX100iv. At the same focal lengths I have a hard time telling the RAW pictures of both cameras apart. Images are both sharp all across the frame, with only a tiny advantage for the Sony at the edges of a 24mm image. RAW capturing is a must though to get maximum sharpness from the TZ.Maybe I was just lucky.

It’s actualy not that interesting. People who keep touting the Pixel 2’s (or iPhone X or any help other cell phone cam) quality don’t really seem to understand image quality. The pixel 2’s images look decent when viewed on a tiny phone screen and they use software to jack the contrast and add fake bokeh, giving the illusion of quality. Too bad the files lack any detail though because the minuscule lens can’t resolve any detail.

PropaPH I read the link. I am not sure this guy understand photography when he said "...(both these sensors are approximately equivalent to a full-frame 27mm lens)...". What? And using automatic mode on 5D? Come on.... Anyway, automatic mode is where smartphone excel because of computational photography, which is designed to please the crowd. So of course the OOC jpg will be pleasing to the eyes!In good light you will not see much different between larger sensor camera and a good smartphone. But go to the lowlight samples- even with P20 low light mode, the artifact is clearly visible. Looks very digital. Btw, the center crop in the first series of photos shows 5D is cleaner. See the windows. Also, seems that 5D's focus is not at what was cropped.

Smartphone's camera is getting better and better and clearly compete with small sensor dedicated camera (P20 is using 1/1.7" sensor, which is larger than most P&S cameras). But do not expect miracle against the big sensor camera.

That new "Sequence Composition" feature it's like the "Multi-motion Image" Best shot (scene) of my old Casio EX-FH100 from 8 years ago.

And can't see a word about speed operation. How much delay between you press the shutter and the camera, after taking the image it's ready for the next one? I guess it wont be like in the Casios from ZR series (except the first models) that you can take 3 or 4 shots in normal, no High Speed mode.

I'm really confused now... I almost pulled the trigger on this camera based on the pictures from the "Florida trip" gallery. IMO the IQ is pretty good for such a camera, and some pictures like the dragon head close up showed very good sharpness at max telephoto, which I'm particularly interested it. However these studio scene pictures are nothing short but awful. The lens softness is much worse than the ZS100, which was already pretty bad.

Does it all come down to different copies? What are my chances of hitting a good one if I go for it? Not fond of the idea of buying and returning multiple cameras myself.. (plus paying for shipping to participate in the 'lottery').

To an extent, buying any compact camera is a lottery: it's difficult to build small, highly complex zooms, consistently, for a reasonable price. There will always be a degree of variability in that.

However, ambitious collapsible zooms generally tend to struggle with the challenge of shooting a flat, relatively close target, so I'd give more weight to the real-world samples than to our test scene, in terms of sharpness.

The way I count it, from the $800 of this camera, about $500 goes towards the lens (considering that the LX10 is 550). That is not exactly a small amount of money. Panasonic has a lot of experience with superzooms, I really don't think that we should cut them this much of a slack on manufacturing consistency.

It would be interesting to see what a "perfect copy" would be able to do. There is nothing you can do about f/ values given the form factor, and otherwise this is a highly desirable camera.

Totally agree Richard. These relatively large hires sensors combined with tiny motorized multi-tubed complex lenses make them even more prone to variations than compact cameras with tiny sensors.The only way I could get around this phenomenon was to buy them at a place where I could try the cameras and return them when not satisfactory. I payed a little more, but is was worth while. I got a razor sharp RX100 IV and later also a very good TZ100 (not as sharp as the Sony when pixel peeping at 100%, but about equal in print).

Maybe, just maybe, the sample variation is aggravated by the usual lack of experience early in production. Or Leica allowed already to handpick optical assemblies for their version (rumored to come up real soon now) before end assembly ;->Where I live, I can walk into a store, try the camera and will buy exactly that tried specimen.

That's some surprisingly lousy IQ from a camera that promises better. In the recent past I've owned two different "premium compact" Panasonics and won't own another until the company improves it QC. The lens on my LX100 was downright terrible and Panasonic service was "unable" to fix the defects and took a very long time about it, too. Too bad Panasonic. Great handling cameras but your "Leica" lenses aren't up to standard. The "Zeiss" branded lenses on my current Sonys are completely satisfactory.

More about gear in this article

Now that we've completed our review of Panasonic's Lumix DC-ZS200 (TZ200), we've updated its entry in our Best Cameras for Travel, Best Pocketable Enthusiast Cameras and Best Enthusiast Long Zoom Cameras buying guides.

With spring rolling around, the Panasonic ZS200 / TZ200 is likely catching the eyes of photography-minded travelers with upcoming trips. While our testing continues, we thought we'd post a few more samples (including some Raws) from this handy little travelzoom.

Spending time in Japan for CP+ also means that we've been able to get out and take some photos on the vibrant streets of Yokohama. With a 20MP 1" sensor and 24-360mm equiv. zoom, the Panasonic ZS200 / TZ200 was up to the task.

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